Food Police Target Kids’ Toys

Santa Clara County’s board of supervisors despondently voted 3-2 yesterday to ban toys in Californian restaurant meals marketed to kids that exceed a certain amount of calories. The purpose, said the measure’s sponsor, is to fight obesity. Get it? They’re banning toys for kids…for the children. Given the twisted logic of obesity crusaders, perhaps it was only a matter of time.

In essence, this county measure is a slap in the face to parents. It accuses moms and dads of being unable to responsibly buy food for their kids.

But guess who appears happy at the depressing move by Santa Clara County? You got it—master manipulator MeMe Roth and the killjoys at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). When this proposal was first floated last month, a spokeswoman from CSPI said that a toy ban was “on our list of promising policy options” and also claims today that CSPI's research says most kids’ meals are “unhealthy.” (“Unhealthy” is a label CSPI seems to give to anything but steamed kale, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes. Not exactly the happiest of meals.)